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The Machine

Posted on Dec 6, 2001  |   1529 views  

This is "The Machine", which is basically a 100 year old home-made crane that we used daily in the oil field. When an oil well stops pumping (1 out of the 63 would stop each day), we'd have to get out this baby and haul it over to the well using a tractor. THEN, you take the well apart and remove the 500 feet of pipe from the ground -- but here's the catch -- it's in 20 foot lengths that are rusted together, and which you have to take apart using 2 monkey wrenches. It is soooo hard, and I don't know how many times I hit my shin with the wrench. It was also a very oily, hard, hot job... and it took about 8 hours to take out all the pipe, and clean out the clog and put it back in to try it again. About 50% of the time, it wouldn't pump and we'd have to take it all back out and do it all again. There is no surefire way to get a well pumping again. You just have to keep taking it apart and cleaning it. Blahhh!

Canada

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